***The Truckers Thread***

[cmann250]

Rodeo du camion looks like tons of fun. And very hard on parts


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[KG1]

Soooooo. I have you to blame for that last international?

Prostars suck. Our fleet has had nothing but problems with them. So much so that we are switching to Kenworths.

 

[mmpsteve]

How's about some real drag racing.

[video=youtube_share;zNt8QdBU1SY]http://youtu.be/zNt8QdBU1SY[/video]

Man, that's some crazy torque going on there, with the engine twisting the front wheel off the ground.

.

 

[jamil]

..as long as there is money, lonely truckers, and women looking to separate one from the other.

They don't call it the "oldest profession" for nothing.

Good looking equipment!

For some reason I saw 4 *’s instead of 3. I thought the thread title was “**** the truckers thread”. I was thinking, well that sounds like that would be against forum rules, but hey. He’s a mod, so...

Not that I’m disappointed.

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

Anything and everything a trucker deals with.

I work on a dock/warehouse and deal with truckers quite a bit. Am I allowed to participate here?

 

[igotdiesel2]

This past week and all next week I'm driving a 2017 Autocar hostler at a big 10MPH. Then I'll be in a KW T680. Got my Class A 3 weeks ago and am still in training mode till the middle of June. -Jason

 

[Bigtanker]

I work on a dock/warehouse and deal with truckers quite a bit. Am I allowed to participate here?

Sure. Stories about how they drive off and drop their trailer are always fun.

 

[Bigtanker]

Rodeo du camion looks like tons of fun. And very hard on parts


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IIRC, that's basically a company picnic in Canada.

Man, that's some crazy torque going on there, with the engine twisting the front wheel off the ground.

.

I found an article on one of those trucks a while back. 2,500 hp. Something like 5,000 tq. Custom tune to allow the engine to spin up to 3,500 rpm. I'll see if I can find it again.

 

[Wstar425]

I can play this game!! Ran this truck solo to the Left coast for 4 years/600,000 miles.

2004 KW900L with a C-16 and 18 speed. Got spoiled. Also got ran out of California. Too much stress and decided to find something closer to home. Ok, wife decided.

 

[Wstar425]

A little over 4 years with these guys. Haul paper and pulp into and out of Wisconsin, Schaeffer’s Specialized Lubricants from St. Louis to N. Wisconsin, and make a few runs to N. Dakota and eastern Montana each spring.

Got a new truck last fall, 2019 Peterbilt, X15 500hp and 13 speed. NO AUTOS FOR ME!!!!!!!!

i paid to have the tanks polished and started back on them again this spring. I’ve been driving over 40 years and this is the first Pete that I could really call my own. While it’s not in the same class as a W9, this one is pretty nice and I enjoy driving it a lot. I’m 60, was working part time 4 days a week and thought I would never see another new truck. I have since gone back to full time, but we don’t work weekends and I’m home 2 or three night a week as well.

i don’t pull the red trailer very often, we only have the one like that.

 

[Wstar425]

Here’s pretty good example of what I’m rolling down the highway in. Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, St Louis, North Dakota delivering to farmers are all places I go.

 

[Wstar425]

Sure. Stories about how they drive off and drop their trailer are always fun.

I was loading at Miller/Coors in Milwaukee and the spotter dropped a loaded trailer two doors down that buckled the landing gear. You never saw so many suits in your life. I offered to help unload a couple of cases but they seemed to not find any humor in my offer.

 

[Wstar425]

Funny how a little four inch circle brings back memories? Not sure there is anything else stock ever made like it. Pass anything but a fuel pump! 4.4 mpg eastbound loaded downhill with a tail wind. On a good day.

I used to ease out of the Wyoming Port of Entry in Evanston, big long on-ramp. Swift or Prime or some other clown thought they were going to pass me and my 175 lights as they jumped out into the hammer lane barely off the on ramp. I’m just doing my progressive shifting thing, it’s not my fault that you’re an idiot. So, they get hung out in the hammer lane, never quite able to get past me. Their top speed, 63. Mine, about 80. Goodbye

 

[semperfi211]

I am not a driver but I have been working in the trucking industry for a few years. I am a dockworker for ABF. I started in 91 with Carolina Freight at the South Chicago terminal in Sauk Village Il. I am still at the same dock. The pic is from one of those sub zero days.

 

[Bigtanker]

Funny how a little four inch circle brings back memories? Not sure there is anything else stock ever made like it. Pass anything but a fuel pump! 4.4 mpg eastbound loaded downhill with a tail wind. On a good day.

I used to ease out of the Wyoming Port of Entry in Evanston, big long on-ramp. Swift or Prime or some other clown thought they were going to pass me and my 175 lights as they jumped out into the hammer lane barely off the on ramp. I’m just doing my progressive shifting thing, it’s not my fault that you’re an idiot. So, they get hung out in the hammer lane, never quite able to get past me. Their top speed, 63. Mine, about 80. Goodbye

The 9 axle rig I pull averages about 4.8-5.0. we run about 70% loaded. The truck does about 700 miles a day, 7 days a week. It's only down for repairs and service.

I was pre tripping this afternoon and heard a brake nosie. Took it across the street to the shop and left it. I jumped on a tandem. The rear drive brake shoes had broke.

 

[Rookie]

I was at Kroger the other day and had to wait for a semi to back into the dock. While I'm waiting, I'm thinking the back corner of his trailer looks mangled. Pretty soon, I figure out why as he backs into a parked trailer. Now, I understand backing trailers is difficult, but isn't that something truck drivers should be good at?

 

[Bigtanker]

Some drivers never get it. I'd have a hard time angle backing into a dock. I haven't done it in about 10 years. But the for sure way to not hit anything is G.O.A.L. Get Out And Look. Some drivers are just too lazy.

 

[JeepHammer]

Both sides of my family have been in trucking since my birth (can't testify for what happened before I was born),
Heavy equipment, house & structure moving, bulk transport on one side, ag products & general freight on the other side

Somewhere between 2 & 3 weeks a month I have to leave south Western Indiana (my little slice of heaven) and go to Carlisle PA, then to Dover DE, then back home.
Small part 'Widget' military contracts mostly, so I see stupidity everywhere, including the east coast.

I can't say I ever 'Learned' to drive, at 11 or 12 I was getting around job sites in a tri-plex Mack winch truck...
At 16 I got 'Arrested' for doing 71 MPH on a 55 mph 2 lane highway with an entire house on the back...
The state trooper said no one would believe he pulled over a house at 71 MPH, so he dragged me off to see the judge.

I joined the Marin Corps at 17 to get some rest!

Between dodging every beat up, broken down, rusted out s*** box anyone cares to drag out on the highway,
Every bit of household crap anyone can loose on the highway,
Every drunk, stoned soccer mom in an SUX completely engrossed in her cell phone crossing 4 lanes of traffic to hit an exit she already missed,
I'm SO READY to give up driving a truck in any way, shape or manner...

My hat is off to the guys doing the job full time!
Unless you are living naked in a tree eating bugs, they bring every single thing that makes modern life possible, from the gas & tires for your car, to the staples, nails & screws that built your house, and everything in between.

My military contract is almost up, but my primary employer just signed a new contract with Fox Shocks, so I'm guessing they will have their own transportation, so I can turn the Freightliner into a camper!
I've threatened to park it in the yard & plant flowers around it about 1,000 times, but since it's only got about 350,000 on the clock, I'm thinking stretch the frame & make it a motorhome, I've never been much on busses...
It would make a good toy box in my rapidly coming retirement!

 

[JeepHammer]

I was at Kroger the other day and had to wait for a semi to back into the dock. While I'm waiting, I'm thinking the back corner of his trailer looks mangled. Pretty soon, I figure out why as he backs into a parked trailer. Now, I understand backing trailers is difficult, but isn't that something truck drivers should be good at?

There is ZERO depth perception in a mirror...
There are two kinds of truck drivers, the ones that admit they have hit something backing up, and LIARS!

KW is correct about G.O.A.L. and being lazy...
It's easy to hit stuff (almost guaranteed) if you don't get out and look.

It also has a lot to do with the truck/trailer,
Short trucks with back windows (day cabs/short trip trucks) and short 'City' trailers are easier to back up.
That OTR (over the road) truck with sleeper, and 53' long trailer with a turning radius of an aircraft carrier is MUCH harder to back up.
You have to ANTICIPATE where the trailer needs to be 80 feet or so from where you are now, and try to turn a monolith correctly, while doing everything BACKWARD of intuition, in a reversed image in a mirror with no depth perception...

Let your brain absorb that a minute,
The mirror image is reversed, and there is no depth perception in a mirror.
Your tractor wheels have to turn the OPPOSITE direction you *Think* they should go,
AND,
You are trying to hit a slot not much wider than the truck, 80 feet behind you with the truck/trailer bent in the middle...

AND...!
All the while idiot 4 wheeler drivers are often zipping around you, edging up in blind spots, so you have to keep 360* situational awareness all the while you are trying to back that jointed vehicle into a slot 2' wider than the vehicle is...

Keep in mind that most freight docks have load bridge platforms that extend into the trailer for fork trucks...
You get about 6" tolerance before that bridge won't fit into the trailer, you have to hit that dock CENTERED or the trailer can't be unloaded and everyone throws a fit.

The skills truck drivers have is like anything else,
There are the 10% at the top that do everything correctly,
There are the 10% at the bottom that do everything wrong,
And the 80% in the middle that have no special aptitudes and have to figure it out through training & experience.
These are the guys just getting the job done everyday, all day long, with little pay and no respect.

You crash into stuff, run over things, tailgate, speed, screw up regularly you won't be doing this long.
Between insurance companies, DOT, CSA and ambulance chasing lawyers filing bogus law suits, you won't be driving long.

Keep in mind that DOT controlled vehicles have not only city, county & state law enforcement to deal with,
But also 3 dedicated layers of law enforcement, federal DOT, state DOT, and some city DOT units to deal with.
All they do is harass DOT controlled vehicles all day long, 364-1/4 days a year.

Every driver has every infraction recorded and gets 'Points' against their licence & CSA score.
Every driver has to take DOT qualification physicals,
Every driver gets drug screened randomly,

I had to get a 'DOT Doctor' because even some over the counter medicine is restricted.
Don't think that's cheap...
Doctors train for 3 days to give FFA physicals, that's commercial airline pilots,
DOT doctors have to train for 10 days to give truck driver physicals!

All that so every random person can have 'Fidget Spinners', gossip magazines & fast food 24/7/365...
And everything else in their world.

 

[boogieman]

I drove for about 15 years with about 1.5 million miles logged. About 4 years ago I lost my medical due to diabetes and now I manage the company I used to work for. We haul exclusively for FedEx Ground. I have 18 trucks and 22 drivers that run about 65,000 miles a month. Our trucks dont' stop much. I trade them in about 4-4.5 years with anywhere between 700,000-1,000,000 miles.

This isn't one of my actual trucks but is identical to what I run. Freightliner Coronados pulling double trailers